Meal plan for January 4th-10th

I know it isn’t cool to give out spoilers, but I have to say I was so disappointed in the direction they went. I mean, Chewy turning to the adult film industry because of a lack of smuggling work? It was just sad all around. 🙂

Actually, I thought it was really well done, and so much better than episodes 1-3. The humor of the original movies was there, and having a female action lead was refreshing!

You know what I discovered this week? All seasons of Top Chef are now on Hulu. We have been cable-free for five years now, and Top Chef is one of those shows I have really missed. I know what I’ll be watching on the Kindle at 2 am while breastfeeding. And it’s been fun to watch while working on Bennett’s quilt. Finally. Cause you know, second kid and all. Kidding (I’m the second born), actually it has been a combo of working long hours and having a sick ass kid since mid-November.

I rushed out to the store Friday afternoon and picked up one-third of a yard of all of these:

And then I got home and found these fabrics in my stash

It will be my normal style of quilt (Patchwork Style from this weird ass book), and if I work on it a little bit every night, I can probably knock it out in less than two weeks. I also grabbed some super soft fabric and some plain no pill fleece and hopefully will be able to pull off a small car seat blanket. We’ve been having some very cold weather lately (30 degrees (don’t laugh people with real cold weather), but gorgeously sunny), and since Bennett is due at the end of January, I thought a cozy warm blanket for the car would be a nice touch. Between basketball two nights a week, working late almost daily to try to get my replacement up to speed, and other obligations, this kid may end up just having some random assortment of pieces of fabric piled on him. Oh well, he won’t know the difference.

We had Jack’s allergy tests on Thursday, and I’ll be talking about the results more in-depth later this week, but basically they found nothing. Not an effing thing. The immunologist was wonderful, but ended the day saying “you have a series of symptoms and are just randomly looking for a cause”. That is exactly what is going on in this house. Overall Jack has been doing well this past week. His tummy starts to hurt occasionally, but then he poops and all is well. Too much information? Well suck it. Just wait until you read my birth story; no holds barred people. No holds barred.

One of my best friends Megan is pregnant with her fourth child. They live in 1,300 square feet, and she works really hard to keep the clutter at bay with all those munchkins. Along with another friend, I suggested that this year instead of doing Christmas presents for the kiddos, we do an experience like go to the zoo. We couldn’t get our collective act together for all three families, but Megan’s brood and Jack and I met up at Northwest Trek on Wednesday afternoon for a frigid day of “wild” animal viewing. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, despite freezing our balls off.

If you follow me on Facebook, you already have seen the photo I posted of my 36 week pregnant self. It has been a very fast pregnancy (at least for me), and I’m still feeling well overall. I have some lower back pain that will not go away, and my hips are starting to do this end of pregnancy thing where they just slip out of joint randomly. It makes walking up stairs or around corners potentially hilarious.

I think once I get to the point post-partum where my hair is falling out, I’m going to go back to semi-short hair. I saw a photo of my hair last Christmas, and I think I prefer it chin length. The current length just seems so “meh” to me. Fine hair plus a long face makes me feel kind blah most of the time.

We are so very lucky that not only did we keep so much of our baby stuff from Jack, but we have acquired some new hand me downs from friends and family. This isn’t our first rodeo, so we know what is necessary versus stuff that will end up at Goodwill within weeks. We are also thankful to have been gifted some new items from generous loved ones. My friend Anne bought me a diaper bag for my birthday. It was gorgeous, but ended up being way too big for my needs. I returned it, and got another one that I that I really loved. Then, on Christmas eve when I was at a baby store exchanging something from my shower (I just wanted a different color, but loved the item), I turned a corner and locked eyes with a diaper bag I had never seen before. The color was striking, and I just loved how it was unique looking and didn’t scream “diaper bag”. As in, I could use this as a work bag whenever I decide I should be heading back to the employed life. I had a credit on Amazon from the original diaper bag, and ended up treating myself to the Skip Hop Forma, and I love everything about it. It’s functional, roomy (but not huge) enough for cloth diapers, and the color is gorgeous (peacock).

Okie dokie, meal plan time! This week is a bit loosey goosey since there are many late nights with wonky work schedules. Also, lots of grass fed beef because my body sucks at absorbing iron while pregnant. Go me!

Friday:: TBD. Jack has his follow up pediatric gastro appointment and we’re waiting to hear what we can add back to his diet.

Saturday::Popcorn/meal night.

Sunday:: Family dinner!

So far I have spent $63.21 at the grocery store, and will be hitting up Costco after Church today. Want to know what pisses me off? I can’t find cranberries anywhere – fresh or frozen. I made two quarts of cranberry sauce for Christmas, and since I’m the only person who likes it, I’ve been enjoying a few bites every morning with my breakfast. It’s all gone, and I want more. Nay, I NEED more. But only the fresh (or frozen) cranberries will do. No canned shit for me!

I do “quilt as you go”, so I’m actually sewing on pieces of thin batting (Mountain Rose – you can get it at Joanns) that are 12×12. Then when all is sewn on the pieces of batting, I connect the pieces together. Then sew on the back.

Glad to hear Jack hasn’t had any major pains this week. Woohoo for no allergies? It is sucky that you still have no answers though.

I’m sure it’s been mentioned or you researched it (and your sick of advice), but if he’s having food issues, it could be from an intolerance and not an allergy. When I was researching Emma’s issues (two rectal prolapses at 4 years old, one month apart, etc. I wrote a long post about it here with lots of poop jokes http://jetisteffen.blogspot.com/2011/02/graphic-story-of-poops-untold-and.html), I found that a lot of times when people are having difficulty digesting dairy, there could be an underlying gluten intolerance.

Anyway, my two cents worth.

I hear you on the cranberry sauce. My friend gave me some last year for Christmas and it was awesome. I am forever spoiled and can no longer eat the canned stuff. I have a bag of cranberries in my freezer, but that doesn’t help you at all ;0)

I love the quilt fabrics! I just made a quilt for my newest nice using the same fabric that I used for her big sisters quilt. They styles are different, so it will be easy to tell them apart, but I really needed to bust through my stash. My SIL thought it was cool that they have “sister quilts.”

Hips slipping our of joints does not sound hilarious, but the picture that jumps into my head does make me giggle.

I’m so glad everyone continues to be well. I’m also excited for that baby to get here. I wish you were closer I’d give you cranberries. ( I have 2 bags in my freezer ) I’ll keep my eyes open I see them in the stores sometimes. Keep on trucking girl, I have a feeling this is gonna be a amazing year for you!

Hellllllllo

Yo, I’m Sarah Cook. And Sustainable Cooks is your guide to a healthy, tasty, and sustainable life.
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